Photo Essay: Anish Sarai’s Winter Epiphany

I’ve known Anish for a few months now. And if there’s anything that can be said about him, it’s this – his passion for photography is as evident and blazing like the sun at the peak of summer. Professionally, he’s a fashion photographer who equally loves shooting portraits. Personally, he’s my favourite Punjabi.

The photo essay that you’ll experience in a few scrolls from now was shot a few years ago in his homeland. The words describing it are his. The perceptive will gauge the irony in the title of the essay. But they would also be right to think of it as gloomy. It is. In most parts, it’s hazy to a point of distorted. There’s a sense of longing and uncertainty that pricks through the skin. It’s cold, yes, but winter is more than the drop of temperature and the absence of warmth. It’s also a brutal reminder of death where the landscape mourns and come to terms with closing curve of life.

Photo Essay: Anish Sarai’s Winter Epiphany

Timeless thoughts of a winter’s stare;
eyes gazing over a landscape bare.
Memories drift on a blustery breeze;
dying light ushers in the freeze.
Reaching out for a grasp on the present;
stillness sets in, alone, and desolate.
Future unknown, outcome uncertain;
brilliance shadowed by a drawn curtain.

— By Michael A. Barron

Vision is a funny thing. How one perceives and interprets a thing largely depends on what one is experiencing in their life at that moment. Like a happy person sees brighter colours.

I was visiting my maternal village in the great land of Punjab after decades… but it wasn’t for a happy occasion. The pre-fed images imprinted in my mind by Bollywood as well as the previously experienced memories of Punjab were strictly different from what I was seeing now.

In movies, this iconic land is forever depicted as green, happy and flourishing with stereotypical imagery of prosperity. But there is a darker side to my native land. Like the plain everyday fact that the community is deeply ridden with drug inflicted youth and immense scarcity of jobs.

Winters are dry with vast landscapes barren landscapes that are lost in a haze. A fog so thick you cannot see beyond it. This state of desolateness, a state of my mind at that very moment, is what I attempted to capture.

You can see more of his work on his website, Instagram and Behance. He can be reached at anish.sarai@gmail.com. All pictures are property of Anish Sarai. Republishing or using them without prior permission of the artist is strictly prohibited.

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One thought on “Photo Essay: Anish Sarai’s Winter Epiphany”

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